As students prepare to head back to school, a new global survey from GumGum, the contextual-first technology leader transforming digital advertising, reveals that advertising continues to play a powerful role in shaping how families shop when ads shows up at the right time, in the right format, and with the right message.

According to the survey, which collected responses from thousands of consumers across six countries, more than half (52%) of global respondents say advertising plays a significant role in influencing their back-to-school purchases. That number rises to 73% in the U.S., where 28% say advertising helps them discover new brands and 26% say it aids in guiding decisions, even as they research other options.

“Back-to-school is one of the most competitive shopping moments of the year, and families are actively looking for guidance, not noise,” said Kerel Cooper, Chief Marketing Officer at GumGum. “What stood out in this research is how much timing and context matter. Ads are most effective when they show up during key decision-making moments, with messaging that respects where the shopper is in their journey.”

Additional key findings from the survey include:

• Timing Is Critical & Shoppers Respond When Ads Appear in Moments That Matter: The biggest differentiator? Timing. 44% of global consumers, and 48% in the U.S., say they’re most receptive to back-to-school ads while actively researching or shopping. That compares to just 7% globally and 8% in the U.S. who are receptive while streaming, and 12% globally versus 11% in the U.S. while scrolling social media, highlighting that ads placed in high-intent moments resonate far more than passive placements.
  
• It’s Not Just the Discount – Creative Still Matters: Performance marketing shouldn’t come at the cost of good creative, and consumers respond best to visually sharp, relevant messaging. When asked what makes an ad stand out during back-to-school shopping, 42% of shoppers said ads that feel relevant to their needs or lifestyle stand out the most, followed closely by those that offer a clear value or deal (41%) and are visually engaging and creative (34%). In the U.S., responses mirrored this trend, with 23% prioritizing relevance, 24% citing value, and 22% drawn to creative execution.
  
• In-Store and Social Ads Lead the Way: Globally, social media (26%) and in-store promotions (22%) emerged as the most influential ad formats for back-to-school shopping, outpacing search, streaming, and native placements. In the U.S., shoppers also ranked in-store and social highest, showing consistent preferences across markets despite the rise of digital video and streaming.

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GumGum, the contextual-first technology leader transforming digital advertising, has uncovered a critical gap in campaign effectiveness: 41% of contextual ad placements fail to capture attention when creative relevance is ignored. This finding emerged through GumGum’s enhanced Mindset Graph and underscores a growing industry challenge: serving the right message in the right environment, not just to the right audience.

The Mindset Graph is designed to address this gap by aligning context, attention, and creative signals within a single planning framework. Advertisers can now input a target audience (e.g., females aged 25–44), a brand vertical (e.g., apparel), and a creative theme (e.g., athleisure) to receive high-impact, contextual recommendations, where message and mindset align.

Early adopters, including The Heineken Company, PHD, and Havas, are already seeing results. In a recent campaign for Heineken’s cider brand, Old Mout, the Mindset Graph helped uncover high-performing contextual environments that elevated brand impact across the full funnel. The brand saw a significant +17-point uplift in awareness, with mental availability jumping +23 points among females. Brand consideration also rose above benchmarks, with a +19-point increase among women aged 18–44. 

“We briefed GumGum on a range of audience personas aligned to the Heineken brand portfolio,” said Dan Glynn, Media Buying Lead at The Heineken Company. “Using the Mindset Graph, they identified how different contexts resonated with each persona to varying degrees — for example, there was a strong link between Old Mout Cider and Travel and Attractions content. Even though travel was not a category mentioned in our brief, this insight unlocked a new context match we hadn’t considered, allowing us to drive greater consumer interest and attention.”

Other partners report similar benefits:

“GumGum’s Mindset Graph has helped surface affinities that will help inform future activation —like discovering that the audience for one of our FMCG clients was over-indexing in PC Gaming and Travel,” said Chris Appleton, PHD Media UK, Head of Programmatic+. “The benefit of unlocking these insights will allow us to meet consumers in unexpected, high-engagement arenas.”

“The Mindset Graph has been especially useful on the creative side. Many of our clients can’t make mid-flight creative changes—it’s just not feasible,” said Jacob Kiernan, Programmatic Account Director, Havas Media Group UK. “But using this tool during planning lets us be more proactive. We can launch with more relevant creative, matched to the audience’s mindset, which ultimately helps capture more attention.”

More than 15 brand and agency partners, including OMD, GroupM, and Mindshare, are currently testing the Mindset Graph’s latest features. By continuously ingesting real-time cultural signals—from breaking news to trending conversations—the platform keeps campaign planning culturally aligned and attention-ready from start to finish.

“With the enhancements to the Mindset Graph, media and creative are no longer siloed,” said Kerel Cooper, Chief Marketing Officer at GumGum. “We’re not just helping brands find where their audience is—we’re showing them what message to deliver in those moments to truly drive impact.”

As GumGum continues to lead in mindset-based advertising, it is redefining how brands connect: capturing attention, creating resonance, and delivering measurable outcomes.

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